Although I usually try with all my might not to shop at corporate crackwhores like Starbucks, today the inevitable happened. There’s a Starbucks in the lobby of the building in which I work, and after lunch I was feeling mightily in danger of falling asleep at the brain. I dragged my butt to the Starbucks counter and was greeted by a guy I’ve seen around quite a bit. As he was pouring my coffee we chatted a tiny bit and I mentioned that I was pretty worn out and stressed. At that, he handed me my coffee and said “In that case, may this help to cheer you up… on the house.”
Maybe he was flirting because I was wearing a boobie sweater. Maybe he was too lazy to open the cash register for a measley $1.40. Maybe he had a New Year’s resolution to give one freebie per day. I don’t care. Now I’m up at work on the 34th floor, sipping some damn good coffee, and feeling like singing something like “The hills are alive with the sound of music… LA LA LA” 
Or maybe the caffeine is just causing me to WAY over react.
What nice things have happened to you lately?
Now that was a nice turn of the day. The nicest thing that has happened to me, my overtime at work at least on the weekends is over.
The other week at Home Depot, we were, um, cashiered (?) by a very nice lady who asked us how we were, commented on how beautiful the flowers were, and made nice polite conversation with us, and when we were done, she said “Have a nice weekend”, and by God she meant it, and I congratulate her for being the last worker in America to enjoy customers.
This isn’t exactly nice in the way that you mean it, but I was pleased nonetheless.
Last night, I ordered delivery from a little place called Wingslingers. Good wings, but I wasn’t in the mood, so I got a chicken cordon bleu grinder with no mayo or tomatoes, and wedges with melted cheese, medium buffalo wing sauce, and bleu cheese dressing. Very specialized order.
They delivered it to me in about half the time they said it would take, and when I was digging through the bag to make sure they saw everything, I saw a baggie full of something green. (no, not THAT)
They had put the lettuce (leaf, not iceberg) for my sandwich in a separate baggie so it wouldn’t get wilted. And they got my entire difficult order perfectly right. Everything was wonderful. I love that kind of attention to detail. For that, I’m going to have to take Brian there for wings the next time he’s here.
OK, I went to Taco Bell a few days ago with a page of special orders from about a dozen people in the apartment. I went through the drive-through, since it was past midnight and the walk-in place was closed. I apologized in advance to the poor sap who had to take this order. Get this. She repeated each item as I said it. She repeated the entire order when I was done. And when I got to the window to pick it up, she placed each individual item in the bag while I watched, repeating what it was as she did so.
Every item was exactly what I asked for. This was on about forty bucks worth of food, all “no this” or “extra that”. I was amazed, and tried to tip her the change from the fifty. She refused, saying she was just doing her job. Amazing!
Oh, I did write down her name, and called the manager the next day to let him know how fantastic and uniqu his employee is. Renewed my faith in the customer service industry.
When I read the title of this thread (“My faith in humanity was restored… at STARBUCKS”), I thought it was about that trick you can do with fortune cookie fortunes where you read the fortune and then say “in bed”. Except, in this case, you read the fortune and then say “at Starbucks”.
E.g.: “You are the first in line for a promotion … AT STARBUCKS.”
Or: “Your happiness will be increased … AT STARBUCKS.”
Or: “One can only find true peace within oneself … AT STARBUCKS.”
Or: “You will die from caffeine poisoning … AT STARBUCKS.”
Just thought I’d share that with y’all.
Two things, minor but nice:
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Yesterday I splurged for lunch at a cosy, oldtime little jazz club/restaurant/bar near work. The waitress is a doll; she’s 60 if she’s a day, neat as a pin, quick, cheery and attentive without being a pest. She always makes my day because she’s just so happy and professional in demeanor. BTW, I always tip her at least 30% just because, but she treats everyone that way.)
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Today one of our neglected kids saw some light. He’s a handful, about 11 yrs old, full of unfocused energy and no adult to help him grow. (Translation: he can be a total hellion at times.) We were both sitting outside (btw, I work at a public library, for those who don’t know) and I pushed the automatic door button for an old lady. She smiled and said “thank you”.
THE LIGHT DAWNED!
A few minutes later another old lady came up (we had a meeting upstairs), the kid sprang up and pushed the button for her. She beamed and thanked him…and a smile to light up the skies spread over his face. I smoked 2 more cigarettes I didn’t want, watching him discovering the joys of courtesy. The best was when an enchanted old biddy insisted on giving this tough street kid a quarter and told him he was “a wonderful young man.”
It really made me think: give a dog a bad name. This kid probably goes through days and weeks without an adult smiling at him and telling him he’s good.
Anyway, like the OP…gave me some reason to hope for human kind.
Veb
Last week I went to the zoo with my 2 year old and a friend I get to see about once or twice a year. She and her husband ( one of our best friends) are thinking of starting a family and she was really attentive to my son. (She is this way naturally as she is a retired (read: burned out) social worker. My son is by nature a pretty easy kid to be around, and was very well behaved the entire day, even with out a nap. My friend said, " You are raising a great child."
Naturally, I shoot back, " And my other option would be…?"
